Page 7 of A Game of Monsters (Realm of Fey #4)

The day outside the castle ruins was clear, the skies blue. Although the harsh bite of winter winds coursed around us, there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Which turned out to be exactly what Erix was hoping for. Eroan had arranged for a convoy to follow, but with our time constraints and my desperation of answers from Rafaela, I had proposed a faster means of travel to reach Lockinge.

“Do you really think this is necessary?” Erix asked as we watched our carriage disappear in the distance. “It will shave off a day, if that, from our journey. But I can assure you that you’d be far more comfortable sitting on a velveteen seat than carried by me.”

I turned my attention from the convoy as it faded off up the road, back to Erix. “It’s important we waste no time. Eroan confirmed that Cassial is holding council in Lockinge before the wedding. If we want to make it with excess time to find and speak with Rafaela, this is our only option.”

Erix flexed his leathery wings; the sharp claw points at their tips caught the light. “Only if you are sure.”

I understood that Erix’s hesitation came from knowing that our dance of minimal physical contact was about to be left behind us, if he had to carry me all the way to our destination. “I’m very sure, I promise.”

Erix nodded hesitantly. “Eroan has confirmed that your belongings will be taken directly to Grove, where you will be staying after the wedding. Eroan has also sent your measurements by hawk directly to Lockinge Castle, so you’ll have something to wear in the city during our brief stay.”

The mention of the human town I’d grown up in made my stomach tighten in knots.

“Rather organised,” I retorted.

“It was at the request of Cassial himself. He is arranging all the outfits needed for the wedding, something about matching an aesthetic.”

“Cassial really thinks of everything, doesn’t he?” I forced out.

“He has to. Since Cassial has headed the reorganisation of the humans after Aldrick’s downfall, he has proven himself to be meticulous. It is in his nature to be well prepared, and thank Altar he is. It is no small feat to lead an entire realm, but so far Cassial has produced nothing but success.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

There was well prepared, and there was also a person who was obsessed with control. Perhaps it was my lack of trust again, but I felt as though it was the latter when it came to the Nephilim. I’d only met Cassial the once when the Nephilim first revealed themselves, and he certainly wasn’t as welcoming as Rafaela and Gabrial had been.

Erix had not experienced the pleasure of conversing with the Creator’s Shield, as Cassial was previously known as, but soon he would, and then he could make his own decision about him as a person.

“Are you ready then?” Erix asked, arms open for me. “Best go before the weather turns.”

I took in his body – garbed in black leathers, armoured shoulder pads and arm braces that looked like scales. A sword was at his hip, extra knives and daggers strapped around his chest. He looked ready for war, not travel.

“Are you sure you can manage?” I asked again. “Lockinge is a long way away.”

“Just shy of two days by horse, but I think I can reach the city by sundown if we make haste.”

I nodded, knowing the haste was my own doing. Daveed, the human teleporter we met in Aurelia, had stayed there after Aldrick died. To request his assistance would mean more waiting, wasting precious time I didn’t have.

Erix read my obvious hesitation, arms crossing over his chest, which made the muscles beneath bunch. “Are you worried about me, little bird?”

“Should I not be?” I asked. It made sense, after all, I was worried about everything else.

Erix’s smile was fleeting. He looked down to the sleet-coated ground, his breath coming out of his mouth in a cloud of mist. “I am far more resilient in this… form. A positive side effect of becoming a monster.”

“You’re no monster, Erix.”

Was that where he believed my hesitation came from? After everything – even knowing what I left behind, strapped to a bed, in the ruins of my castle.

“Trust me,” I added. “I’m well versed with such things nowadays.”

To prove a point, I stepped in, unfolded his arms with my hands until I could melt in his chest. His body bowed around me, and he released a tempered breath. A spark of guilt twitched in my gut but faded when I quickly reminded myself of the promise I made to Duncan. He’d used Duwar to arrange our closeness, that was what I told myself. Although to anyone watching, they’d think the king was embracing his royal guard.

Erix began to tie leather straps around me, attaching buckles to clasps at his chest. I marvelled at the design, and he noticed. “This way I don’t need to hold you the entire time,” Erix explained when he caught me looking nervously at the straps. “My focus and energy can just be used getting us to Lockinge as fast as possible if I’m not worrying about dropping you.”

“Is this your design?” I asked, wiggling in the secure bindings.

“Just something I had an idea about,” Erix said, gaze wondering to something over my shoulder. “Although it’s the first time I have had the chance to trial them.”

“It brings me peace to know I am the one you’re testing it on,” I mocked, nerves bubbling out of me in a sharp laugh. “Not.”

His light chuckle vibrated through my chest.

“There isn’t anyone else I’ve gotten close enough to try it with,” Erix replied, but before I could blush at his statement, he continued, “Now you’re safe.”

Erix released a long exhalation, which sung of untouched words. Then he stretched his wings behind him, blanketing us in a cool shadow. One hesitant arm at a time, he scooped me from the floor. “If, at any time, you get worried, just wrap your legs around my hips and your arms behind my neck.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, my skin shivering at the command. But to pretend this closeness wasn’t undoing me, I would do as he asked. Only if the moment required it.

I pressed my face into his chest, inhaling the familiar scent of cinnamon which always clung to him.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Just don’t let me go,” I replied.

Then, with a gargantuan flap of his wings, the ground fell away. Above the roaring winds, I caught his soft reply. “Never, little bird. Never.”

We flew for hours, and not once did Erix relax his hold on me, even with the leather harness holding me steady. His grip was ironclad. Every now and then he’d stop for a brief rest, but I believed this was for me more than him. We ate cured meats, cheese and bread, dark fresh spring water, relieved ourselves and were airborne before a conversation could truly start.

And there was no talking as we speared through the sky. Only the symphony of roaring winds and his thundering heartbeat kept me company. Up here, surrounded by the endless blue, it was easy to pretend – pretend that life could be something I would one day enjoy.

Although I knew this would never be a possibility for me, I would do anything in my power to secure a world in which Erix, Duncan and everyone else I cared about could live in peace. They deserved it, each and every one of them. But for that, I needed Rafaela and the answers she hopefully held.

I was close to sleeping when Erix’s wings caught the wind like sails of a ship, stopping mid-air. I drew my face away from his chest, conscious I’d likely been snoring, mouth pressed awkwardly into his leathers. Blinking away my tiredness, I looked down to see what had stopped Erix.

At least he’d refrained from commenting on my snoring again – something he teased me about incessantly.

I looked down at the smudge of land beneath us. A patchwork of fields and hillsides split by rivers and roads. The sky was darkening to late afternoon, which made it hard to make out minor details. I narrowed my eyes on a line of moving… fire? No, not fire. Wagons drawn by horses left what looked like an old castle. Lanterns were held by those guiding the wagons on horseback. There were so many of them – far more than I could begin to count as Erix diverted our flight.

We landed half a mile away from the road. The moment we touched down, I could tell from Erix’s pacing that something had unnerved him.

“Something is bothering you.” I could read Erix well, but even a stranger could see that he was contemplating something that unnerved him.

Erix studied the dark as if a true monster would slip from it. He pointed at a dark stone structure in the distance. “Do you remember what that place was used for?”

I shook my head, squinting to make out the shapes. “Should I?”

“Yes.” His wide eyes flashed with fury. “Because we are just outside of Finstock.”

The blood in my veins – cold as my power, though weaker than it once had been – filled my body and bones.

I hadn’t recognised Finstock from the air. I’d last seen it from the back of an iron cage, Duncan leading his Hunters before keeping us locked behind the fortress of grey stone. It belonged to Aldrick’s followers – until the Cedarfall army cleared them out.

“I thought it’d been emptied,” I said. “Cassial’s update on progress with the Hunters confirmed as much.”

That update came weeks back. Then why had there been a convoy of carriages leaving in the dead of night?

“It was supposed to be vacant.” Erix looked beyond the clearing of forest he’d landed amongst, toward the moving line of flame and cart. “But it would seem someone else has found use for the fort in the meantime.”

Throughout the day we’d seen fey and humans travelling toward the boundary of Wychwood in preparation for the wedding. It wasn’t an uncommon sight, but clearly this was different.

“Stay here,” Erix said, the slight points of his nails burying into the tree’s bark. “I will come back to you shortly.”

“No,” I said, reaching for his hand before he could pull away. “That isn’t happening. We go forward together, or not at all.”

Erix turned to me, silver eyes drinking me in from head to boot. “If those people are… If the Hunters are regrouping…” Erix inhaled deeply, pausing to control himself. “I can’t risk you being seen by them.”

“The Hunters would be foolish to regroup when the Nephilim and the fey are searching for them,” I added for him. “Do you really think they’d be stupid enough to reclaim Finstock since it was taken from them?”

“I do,” Erix replied, chilling me to the core.

“Then I’m coming with you. Have you forgotten that you are also fey, Erix? You are as much under threat as I am. Plus, I have this.” Ice crackled around my fingers. The sensation was stunted, odd. But the magic was there – weaker than before, but still useable.

Erix’s eyes widened, his mouth parting in clear surprise. “It brings me comfort to know that you haven’t lost all your power.”

It was a well-kept secret, but then again, I hadn’t really had the chance to show Erix what I was capable of. “When the key was destroyed, it took a lot of it. But the magic I had in my veins before I accepted the Icethorn key is still here. Not as powerful, no grand feats to display, but it is enough.”

Erix relaxed as if he understood that I was not the powerless little bird he thought I was. “Good, we may need it.”

“Hopefully not.”

I expected Erix to refuse me again, but instead, he reached for a blade at his waist and handed it to me. This wasn’t the first time he’d handed me a dagger, although the last one had been lost months ago. “Magic or not, I would feel better knowing you have steel with you too. I’m sure it’s nothing, but we can’t leave without checking.”

I gritted my teeth, almost excited about the chance of facing Hunters again. “For their sake, let’s hope that your suspicions are wrong.”

The muscles in Erix’s jaw feathered. He looked skyward, noticing the sudden gathering of clouds. When he glanced back to me, it was with a look of pride in his eyes.

I shrugged as I continued to release my power into the sky, bringing winter out of Icethorn and into Durmain. “A little cover will help us get into Finstock unnoticed. I think I can manage that…”

“You truly are brilliant, Robin.”

“Back to first names, are we?” I asked, wishing I didn’t but being unable to stop the words from leaving my lips. Lips that Erix hadn’t stopped studying.

“My apologies,” Erix bowed. “Little bird, you are a marvel. Better?”

It was.

I bit down on my lips at his praise. There were so many memories in Finstock. It was where Duncan and I had properly connected. It was where Erix had hunted me down, following Doran Oakstorm’s commands. In the little time since, so much had changed. Too much.

I stepped into Erix, who wrapped his arms around me from behind this time. He didn’t tie the harness back, knowing our flight was only going to be short. Facing outwards so that I had a view of Finstock, instead of burying my face in his chest like before. My stomach flipped as he got us back into the sky. With one hand on the dagger he’d gifted me, the other swirling the gathering clouds like dough in a bowl, we flew into the heart of the fortress, landing on the upper wall.

What we discovered upon arrival was Finstock was, in fact, empty. At least of humans. Although my mind pieced together something we’d seen earlier, and it seemed that the line of wagons we’d noticed had left Finstock. Fresh track marks outside the gate suggested as much.

“They’ve all gone,” I said, looking into the empty courtyard. I searched for signs that they had been Hunters. “The timing is almost too perfect.”

“Hmm,” Erix grumbled, gesturing us to walk further into the heart of the fort. “Only one way to confirm that theory.”

There were no banners with the outline of a hand painted upon material, or old iron cages left behind. In fact, there was nothing incriminating about Finstock, besides the memories that haunted the dark stone walls. Only the old hints of a battle – charred stone, broken windows and a scarred smudge of black against the ground where the Cedarfall army had burned the bodies of the dead.

“If we leave now, we could follow the wagons,” I suggested. “We’ll get our answers by seeing who exactly left here.”

Erix studied the dark fortress, winds caressing the short brown curls he’d grown in the past weeks. For a moment, I caught the glint of someone else. Tarron Oakstorm – his half-brother. It was in rare moments that I got the reminder as to his heritage.

“There’re a few more corners of this place I would like to check before we leave.” His hand slipped into mine and he was guiding me toward the darkened archway leading into the fortress. “If we follow the wagons, we waste more time. Let’s check inside, and if we are confident those were not Hunters we saw, then we leave and head for Lockinge. We can still make it… perhaps a little later than planned but still with enough time to sleep before tomorrow.”

Erix was right. This was his way of reminding me that we didn’t have time to waste chasing after ‘what ifs’.

As predicted, Finstock was empty. It was like the people who’d been here knew we were coming. I knew that was my paranoia, but I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling inside these walls.

Without firelight, it was hard to see inside the many dark rooms. Erix went first, his gryvern eyes more used to seeing in the shadows. Once he was content that the rooms were empty, we moved swiftly on.

We came to a stop in a chamber I’d never forget. It was the fortress’s old chapel, the place Duncan had taken me to so I could watch the followers of Duwar sacrifice themselves in front of a crowd. Except, the room seemed different than before.

“What are those?” I asked, following Erix as he inspected piles upon piles of wooden crates. They didn’t have a symbol on them to suggest what they held. But there were so many of them, proving that whatever was kept in the room had been there in abundance.

“Looks like whoever was here had been using Finstock as storage of some kind.”

“Maybe innocent humans, reclaiming the place after the Hunters were evicted. It’s possible. It isn’t exactly like land is something to be spared in Durmain.”

“Maybe,” Erix echoed, although he didn’t seem to believe me, or himself. We checked almost every box, but we came up empty and without answers as to what had been here.

I kept looking toward the raised dais, noticing the old stain of blood worn into the steps like rust. If I closed my eyes, I could hear the daggers split necks and the bodies of fresh dead thump to the ground.

A terrifying thought speared into my mind. Duncan and the shard of glass beneath his pillow. What if Duwar was using him to converse with the Hunters – something Aldrick would’ve done.

I bit down on my lower lip until I tasted blood, trying to stifle the thought. What was better? Duncan wanting to use the glass to kill himself, or Duncan conspiring with Hunters to further Aldrick’s plans?

Plans Duwar clearly shared.

I walked to the edge of the room, aware of every noise the stone walls echoed back to me. I was so focused on the dais that I didn’t see the glass until I stepped onto it. Erix snapped around, sword unsheathed in a blink.

I raised my hands in surrender. “It’s just me, Erix. Stand down.”

He sagged in relief, although he kept his sword out.

Lifting my foot, I looked down at the shards of glass beneath my boot. Not glass from a window, but reflective like that of a mirror. In fact, swept into the corner and covered in dust, was a scattering of more broken shards.

Dread sank in my stomach like a stone. I knelt down, just like I had in Duncan’s room in Imeria, and picked up a shard of mirror. I held it up for Erix to see. He stepped in close, so much so that I felt his breath on my face. Then he took the shard from my hands, his fingers brushing mine for a moment.

“Tell me this is a coincidence,” I begged. “Finding a mirror in a place where Duwar was once worshiped. That is all…”

He turned the shard over, his reflection caught the worry across his brow. “I am not sure.”

I swept my gaze over the room of empty crates. Had they all contained mirrors? Or was that just my paranoia talking again. We’d not know without solid proof, and in reality, those crates could’ve held anything. Perhaps Cassial had used Finstock as storage for the supplies for Althea and Gyah’s wedding. Anything was possible.

And yet that stone of dread sank deeper and deeper until it was rooted into my gut like a seed with iron-clad roots.

“We should leave for Lockinge now,” Erix said, without taking his attention off the shard of mirror. “Cassial and his Nephilim have been keeping an eye on old Hunter settlements. If anything, they may know what was happening here.”

“I’d prefer to look into this ourselves,” I said.

“It is not our issue to resolve, not anymore.” Erix drank me in from across the room, silver eyes glittering with worry. “Durmain is under the protection, and guidance, of the Nephilim. This is for them to sort. If we were in Wychwood, trust I would make sure we got our answers. But it is best we do not interfere here. Not until the accords have been signed.”

I swallowed the lump which formed in my dried throat. “I’m sure it is nothing to worry about,” I lied, because if I thought too hard about the mirrors, and my concerns about Duncan, I might’ve crumbled into a pile.

I needed Rafaela, and for that we had to reach Lockinge. The longer I took, the more this possibility could affect both realms.

We both knew the importance mirrors had to Duwar. Except my memory of last being in this room was clear as day. There had never been mirrors here. Why now? Yes, it was how Aldrick communicated with the demon-god during his banishment, but Duwar was here, lurking in our realm. Surely, he wouldn’t need mirrors to communicate with our world now he was in it.

“You’re right,” Erix said finally, offering me a smile. “Finstock holds far too many bad memories. It is easy to treat it with suspicion, after everything that happened here.”

“Exactly.”

It was on the tip of my tongue, to again ask Erix to follow the wagons and find out what they carried. But if we were wrong, and they were simply humans travelling to a wedding that was meant to bring together the human and fey, investigating them would only cause the rift between our kinds to linger further apart.

Against my better judgement, we left Finstock and flew in the direction of the human capital. That didn’t stop me from searching the darkening landscape for a line of wagons again. Eventually, we saw them, but it seemed they’d separated from their long-lined convoy. I didn’t know if that should’ve relaxed me or made me worry more.

As night slipped over Durmain, swallowing the view beyond in obsidian, my worries shifted back to Duncan. In a matter of hours, he’d wake from the Gardineum-induced coma.

How would he react when he discovered I was no longer there? Perhaps he already knew.

Seeing the broken mirror in Finstock focused my goals and reminded me of what I needed to do in Lockinge. So, when the city came into view, glowing against the dark from thousands of homes lit from inside, I felt a surge of relief.

Relief that didn’t last long.